Hellsing: the Full Moon
by GLeo
Summary: A continuation of "Hellsing: the nightfall" This is an attempt, and I don't have a completely formulated plot in my head. I may even delete this after a while if I don't have enough inspiration to complete it. Still, I appreciate any comments and suggestions.
1. The new beginning

"Wake up, Master…"

Alucard's voice was echoing in Integra's mind, coming from all directions. She opened her eyes and found herself suspended amidst white mist. At the same time, however, she felt that she was lying on something cool and damp. Such an impossible combination of perceptions from different senses terrified her for a moment, because she could not figure out which one was real.

"Wake up, Master…"

Was that real? Integra looked around but saw nothing except for the thick mist all over the place. Unable to confirm anything, she became even more terrified.

"What is this?" she asked herself, "A dream… hallucinations… am I going insane?"

"Quite the opposite, actually," she heard Alucard's voice.

"Alucard!" she screamed right into the mist, "Alucard, where are you?"

"I'm right here, my Master."

"Where? I can't see you!"

"Just close you eyes…"

"What? Where are you? And what is this? Are you toying with me, Alucard? Because if you are, I swear, I will…"

"Not in the slightest, Master. Just do as I say, please… close your eyes."

She hesitated for a moment, not knowing what to do and how to react, but then decided to go along and closed her eyes.

"Good… now, just give it a moment… three, two, one…"

"And?"

"Open them…"

She complied and shuddered: the white mist was gone, and the full Moon was shining in the sky. They were just where she remembered her consciousness leaving her. She was lying on the ground, and Alucard stood beside her, looking at the Moon, with a wide green on his face.

"How does it feel now, Master?"

"How does what f…" the words got stuck in Integra's throat as she remembered what happened before she passed out.

She sat upright and quickly examined her body.

"Alucard," she muttered angrily, frantically feeling her stomach area to determine if she still had the wound, "What happened?"

"What do you think happened, Master?"

"What do you mean what do I think happened, Alucard?" she retorted, "You shot me! How could you?"

"Wasn't that what you wanted, Master?"

"Of course, not! I was only speaking hypothetically…"

"You said that you would only accept Darkness if you were forced to choose between it and death…"

"Yes, I did! But I didn't ask _you_ to force me into that choice! And now that I think of it, I was wrong to even think like that…"

She lifted her shirt and examined her abdominal area, which didn't show any signs of damage whatsoever. She gritted her teeth and struck the ground with her fist.

"Alucard… How could you? What did you do?"

"I only proved to you that you were wrong, Master," Alucard smirked.

"Wrong how?"

"You were wrong thinking that you would be able to accept Darkness if you were forced on the brink of death…"

"I don't understand," Integra gave Alucard a questioning look.

"You _were_ on the brink of death, and every part of your body was willing to accept it rather than cross into the realm of Darkness…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Thirty years ago, in a similar situation, Seras, despite having been mortally wounded, was clinging to life with all her fading strength…"

"Alucard, I don't…"

"She extended her arm to me, along with her will… She wanted the gift of afterlife… But _you_ didn't, Master..."

"What?"

"Lying here and bleeding your life out… knowing that only I was able to help you hold on to it… you didn't ask me for help in any way… neither in a movement, nor in a thought… Perhaps, having lived as a human for so long, you, unlike Seras, know the true virtue of remaining a human to the very end…"

"But…" Integra examined her body again, "But I'm alive… and there is no wound. You shot me down, and now the wound is gone and I'm alive. How is that possible? Surely, you don't have healing powers…"

"That would be contradictory to my nature…"

"Then how? You shot me in the stomach…"

"Did I?" Alucard grinned, "Or did you just _believe_ that I did?"

"Believe?" Integra's eyes widened in surprise, "You mean, you _made_ me believe that everything really happened? Like an illusion? Did you cast an illusion on me?"

"Rather, I cast _you_ into an illusion that I have created, but that's besides the point…"

"So, all that mist that I saw…"

"Just an after-effect of an illusion on a human mind. There are many different ones. And yours is mist, I assume. That's very interesting…"

"Interesting? Alucard, you are such bastard," Integra sighed, "I'm a not a guinea pig for you to experiment on. Do you realize how terrified I was when I thought that I had become a vampire?"

"That was exactly the point to prove, Master," Alucard said calmly, "Despite that I would be able to embrace the possibility of you becoming a vampire, I know that you would _never_ become one. You would never be able to cast away everything what you have been fighting _for_ and become what you have been fighting _against_. You are just not that kind of a person. And even when you might be in doubt about that, I will not be, Master. I will never allow you to doubt yourself. Even if I have to put you through something like this every time…"

"That was a very hard lesson, Alucard," Integra smiled lightly, looking at the Moon.

"What do you expect of a monster like me, Master?" Alucard smirked, "Still, being a human, you can get sick from sitting on cold ground. Should we head back to the mansion?"

Without saying anything, Integra stood up and started walking. As she passed him, she stopped but not turned her head to him.

"Thank you, Alucard," she said firmly, "I hate to admit it, but I desperately needed a boost of confidence like that. It is way too early for me to be decommissioned yet. Let's go."

"Right behind you, Master."


	2. Chapter 1

Integra barely slept through the night, twisting and turning. She kept thinking about what happened last night. Alucard had indeed given her a boost of confidence, but along with that he had given her a great deal of food for thought. Over and over she tried to tackle the "what now?" question – and kept getting stuck on analyzing the multitude of aspects surrounding that it. Alucard's return, no matter how much longed-for, was expected to put yet more strain into the already tense relationship between Hellsing and the organizations whose leaders made up the Round Table. Much has changed throughout the years: people, attitudes, trust… and not for the better, in most cases. For years now, several members of the Round Table had been openly criticizing Integra and Hellsing's "special status," "prioritized and irrevocable funding," and "severely overreaching authority," while a few others simply tried to avoid any interactions and involvement with Hellsing. Interga realized, however, that such nasty political play was rooted in the most basic human instinct – fear. An independent agency with seemingly questionable purpose, having at its control a supernatural being with yet undetermined power capabilities, and operating directly under authority of His Majesty, Hellsing has been an eyesore in the eyes of many top government officials who were aware of its existence – in Britain and around the world . But now, with the return of Hellsing's original power – infinitely more powerful than Seras – all those sentiments were bound to change for the worse. And with Interga's public image getting older and worn out, that change was only going to get quicker.

Integra winced when the beam of light through the partially closed blinds finally crawled up to her cheek and started shining right in her eye. She sighed, realizing that her sleepless night was probably going to hunt her throughout the day. Then she heard Bennett's tactful knocking on the door.

"Come in."

"I apologize for disturbing you at this quite an early hour, but you have a visitor, Sir Integra," Bennett said calmly, half-opening the door.

"When has nine o'clock in the morning become 'quite an early hour?'" Integra smirked, "You are too kind, as always. A visitor? Who?"

"Sir Penwood."

"Sir Penwood?" Integra gave Bennett a questioning look, "What could he want at this hour? I have cancelled his fencing training, haven't I?"

"You did," Bennett replied contently, "However, he insisted that he needed an extra session to keep up his so slowly developing skills."

Integra's questioning face immediately showed concern.

"I see," she said ponderingly, puckering her brow, "Is he _clean_?"

"It would appear so," Bennett nodded, "I had him walk through an x-ray gate, followed by the electromagnetic and thermal detectors. There was nothing of concern _on_ him. However, his fencing gear was another story. I detected a transmission device of some sort. I offered Sir Penwood to take his gear to the training room, and he seemed to understand what I was talking about. Since I don't know yet what kind of a transmitting device it is, I could not let whoever is monitoring it to realize that we have found it."

"Understandable. But I must tell you that I'm quite impressed with Sir Penwood. And I cannot wait to find out what happened. I hoped to end up being more entertained than concerned, but I don't think that that would be the case… Tell him that I will be waiting for him in my office."

"Right away, Sir Integra" Bennett bowed his head slightly, "And I will be working with the device while you two are talking. Hopefully, I will be able to give you more information soon. In the meantime, would you like me to bring you some tea to the office?"

"Thoughtful as always, and in any situation, Bennett," Integra smirked, "Yes, please do. I don't think I'm in the mood for tea, but I bet that Sir Penwood would love to have a cup right about now."

Bennett nodded in acknowledgement and headed down the hallway.

Sitting in her office behind the desk, Integra heard the sound of footsteps. The door was wide-open, so she only had to turn her head to see Sir William Penwood – and was surprised how fairly undaunted he looked. She wasn't used to seeing that side of his character. For the three years of his presiding over the Defense Department, William has proven himself to be timid and reserved – not quite the qualities expected of a person in his position – but his extremely slow development into his role seemed to have been inherent in the family. After the heroic and sacrificial death of the head of the Penwood of the family during the invasion of London by the Last Battalion thirty years ago, his position as the Commander of Defense Department was handed over by obligation to his son Albert.

Just like his father, Albert Penwood proved ill equipped to handle the duty in the beginning, but throughout the years he had managed to excel at it. Unlike his father, however, he was able to "man up" to the job at least several years before his death, which came untimely. Albert died in a car accident at the age of forty-nine. There were suspicions that the car accident was not an "accident" at all, but the investigation did not discover any sufficient evidence of foul play. After Albert's death, the position was passed on to his son, William Penwood, who was twenty-three at the time. While William was not the oldest child in the family, he was the oldest son, and thus eligible to receive the title and the authority. Seeing and understanding that he was unfit for role, Integra took it upon herself to help the new Defense Commander, who could barely tell a sniping rifle apart from an assault one. Having figured out the trend of retarded leadership skill development running in the Penwood family, Integra decided to do anything in her power to "speed up" William's maturation into a true leader that he was expected to become. That move was not only compassionate but also strategic: having a good relationship with the Penwood "dynasty" of Defense Department Commanders was instrumental to Hellsing's smooth operations, because the Department of Defense had always been the main source of weaponry and technology for Hellsing. Hellsing, it its turn, had always provided the Defense Department with first-hand knowledge of pertinent supernatural matters. Such symbiosis has proven time and time again to be vital, but, needless to say, not many other department heads and British government officials embraced it by any means. Furthermore, Interga's intentions to help and guide William in many daily aspects of what his position entailed irritated many important people, who viewed it as both William's immaturity and Integra's attempts to mold him into something that would be beneficial to her. But in reality, of course, there _was_ a good bit of truth to both of those claims.

Standing in the hallway few steps away from the door, William was looking at Integra.

"M-may I, Sir Integra?"

Integra smiled. William's tone of voice gave away everything that was going on inside his mind, regardless how serious and fearless a face he was trying to put on. Still, he did deserve credit for trying.

"Come in, Sir Penwood."

William took a step inside the office and paused in the doorway.

"Come further and take a seat," Integra smirked, "I won't bite. I think that you should know that by now."

"Of course," William sighed and sat down in the chair in front of her.

"So, as far as I understand, there is a real concern here," Integra said ponderingly, "Or, at least, your use of the code phrase suggested it. You needed an extra session…"

"Yes, I did like you taught me," William tried to force a half-smile, but his nervousness turned it into an awkward grimace.

"Are you being followed?"

"I'm pretty sure… I encountered the same vehicle three times in different places over the past week," William said and glanced in the window behind Integra, "But we haven't been able to identify it."

"Well, you're safe here, I can assur… well," Integra sighed, "I could assure you a few days ago, but now I'm not even certain myself… you know, after what happened. Now I think that this reinforced window and extra surveillance set up by Bennett might not be enough..."

"Speaking of which, Sir Integra, I only know the gist of what happened here… are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm all right… as much as I can be at my age, but… it's not about me right now… let's go back to your situation. Have you been able to determine anything?"

"Nothing," William shook his head slightly, "Our agents couldn't get positive identification."

"No existing data or nothing to identify?"

"The latter, I'm afraid… no tags, fully tinted windows, and no specialized features to research. It's like a ghost car. My people had an opportunity to surround them, but decided not to."

"Good call," Integra said softly and ponderingly, "The person responsible would probably not be in there, and they had probably taken all precautions to ensure that the driver didn't rat out on his boss. But do you think that your agents might have given themselves away? Or could you have given yourself away in any way to let those people know that you're aware that you're being watched?"  
"I…I don't know," William muttered, "I don't think so, but I cannot be sure…"

"Naturally," Integra nodded, "Well, let's try to figure out something, then. Aside from the fact that you have encountered that same vehicle three times in the last week, what else makes you think that you are being followed? Locations? Time of day? Anything specific?"

"I don't think so," William shook his head slightly, "It happened twice in the morning, and then in the afternoon."

"Where at?"

"The first time I noticed that vehicle parked on the opposite side of the street while I was sitting at a café. Of course, at that time I didn't expect that I was going to see it again. But then, the next day, I saw it from the window of my office. It was parked in the small parking lot in the rear of our main HQ building…"

"Which means that they have access to it, just like you do…"

"Exactly. But, of course, there are hundreds of people working for the Department of Defense at the HQ. Which was why I didn't suspect anything at that time. What if they work for us, and they had some official business by the café near my house? No big deal, right? But then I saw that vehicle again. That time it was parked on the corner where my house sits. It was parked behind the dumpster so only a half of it was visible. It was the middle of the day, and I was actually supposed to be across the city at the Defense Counsel meeting, but it got cancelled the day before. I waited for two hours, but the vehicle didn't leave. My security agents recommended that I left the house and drove to the office, which I did. And, according to one of my security agents who stayed at the house, that vehicle drove off shortly after we did, but in an opposite direction. My people decided not to follow it because they didn't want to give themselves away."

"That chain of events could have still been a coincidence," Integra said ponderingly, "Obviously, we know that it wasn't because Bennett found a chip in your fencing gear. But why did _you_ think that it was not a coincidence?"

"Because we couldn't find out anything about the vehicle," William shrugged his shoulders, "We figured that if it was parked in our HQ parking lot on that day, it should have passed through several security checkpoints, but we couldn't find any proof of that. We saw no vehicle on the video records that looked even remotely similar to that one. Nor we had any unusual visitor registries that we could classify as 'suspicious.' Of course, multiple personnel from multiple agencies visit us every day, so there is really no telling whose arrival was an 'oddball,' unless it was truly obvious that the person had no official business at our HQ. So, the only rational explanation to that mystery was that we were dealing with a _chameleon_ … we have a few dozen of these registered with us, and much more the other agencies, of course…"

"The exterior alteration-enabled surveillance vehicle," Integra smirked, "It entered the perimeter looking as another vehicle and then changed its appearance at some place where it couldn't be seen or tracked. I remember when those models first became available to the Government. Everyone was in shock… all the legal turmoil associated with it… yeah, I remember that all. But I find it scary how quickly that technology became just an ordinary thing. The question is, why use it in this case? Unless they _want_ you to know that you are being followed. "

"What do you mean?" William wondered, giving Integra a questioning look.

"Well, think about it from another angle, Sir Penwood. If they really wanted to make this surveillance go unnoticed, they wouldn't have made such a mystery out of that vehicle, would they? The easiest thing to do would be to acquire a private vehicle and completely change the registration information on it, which would lead you nowhere and make everything seem like a coincidence. They could also use one of the Government vehicles and make sure that the use records in the system corresponded to the times and locations where you saw it. Finally, they could have just used multiple cars, and you wouldn't have even noticed anything. But they have been using the same vehicle and, if you ask me, they have been acting as if they wanted you to notice them. Seems like they are toying with you… If you give a bone to a dog, the dog will occupy itself by crunching the bone. If you don't give a bone to a dog, the dog will look for other ways to use its teeth. As you said, you were only worried about the fact that you weren't able to find any information on that vehicle. You are one of the top Government officials with very broad authority and access, Sir Penwood. So, if they indeed decided to use a _chameleon_ for spying on someone like you, knowing who you are and what you could do, it does seem like they are not afraid of getting caught. They are using a vehicle that you can easily recognize but cannot get any information on until you really try hard… They don't want to give you the bone despite that they know what big teeth you have. They are taunting you, Sir Penwood. They are daring you to take a move on them. But there is another troubling aspect to that as well…"

"Which is?"

"The surveillance chip was found in your fencing gear."

"Yes…"

"They knew that we would definitely find it in any case," Integra slowly lowered her clenched fist on the table, while looking sternly at William, "Which means that they are taunting _me_ as well. Going after the Head of the Department of Defense of Britain and Hellsing at the same time is a very bold move, whoever stands behind it. In fact, it is so bold that it will prove suicidal."


End file.
